Completed Magazine

Cover


Contents


DPS

Magazine Progress/Draft

In the process of making the magazine, I had problems with the photos I took (coming distorted when enlarging etc) so I had to take new pictures at the very last minute, leaving a small amount of time to do my drafts. Here is what i got so far:

Cover

Double Page Spread

Double Page Spread Content

I started writing up the content that was going in my double page spread. Instead of doing a double page spread I decided to do the story towards my artist's fame. Here's what I have so far :

The upcoming rapper is still turning heads, smashing out new songs nearly every week, topping charts and grabbing attention from even the biggest rappers like Eminem. ‘Young J’, or more known as ‘James’ is a 24 year old rapper from South East London who just loves to rap. When he came out with his first song ‘Its Young J’, the internet blew up with this viral hit that instantly got recognition from millions.

Young J had been into rap since he was 9, when Eminem had dropped ‘The Slim Shady LP’ in 1999, where he just felt this connection between him and rap. For his 12^th birthday, his mum got him a karaoke set, that he used nearly every day, rapping into the microphone, making new beats and raps on the spot.

Making a group with his friends at 14 to create his own music, his friends saw potential in him, and entered him into a rap battle contest, with a prize of £1000. He later won the contest, and spent his money on studio equipment for his bedroom where he can properly produce music. 

Magazine Name

Since creating my ideas for my magazine, due to feedback from teachers and classmates, I have decided to change my magazine name to 'Grime Stars Magazine'. I chose this name because I want it to directly link to the genre - grime, and put 'Stars' because the magazine will focus on the 'stars' of grime at that moment in time.

Photoshop

In class we chose our photos for our cover star, using pictures that we took in the photography studio. 

Media Photography Call Sheet

Media Call Sheet

Date: Tuesday 10^th November 2015

Time: 9am – 11am

Photographer: Mohammad Salajee

Phone Number: 07758205393

Assignment: Magazine Shoot

Location: A1

Model: James Greenlees

Phone Number: 07721209455

Clothes:

·         Dark Hoodie

·         Dark Trousers

Timeline:

9-9:30am arrive and set up

10am finish setting up

11am finish shoot

Leave by 11:30

Concept:

1 person, gets their photo taken using a backdrop, using the light to cast a shadow on himself to create a dark feeling. 

Analysis of language/text

We analysed 2 double page spreads using a table

Photography Studio Practise

In todays lesson we all went to the photography Studio, to get a crash course in how to use the cameras and the lighting/flash equipment.

Heres a few notes I made:

- Key Light
- Fill Light
- Softboxes

Canon and Nikon Cameras

Backdrops - 5 feet from the back to gain best effects 

Different types of focusing, manual is the main one we will use.

Flash kits synced all around the room using Infared on the brackets of the cameras.

Adobe Illustrator Practice

In class, we practiced making and designing mastheads, using Adobe Illustrator. Once we knew how to do it, we started playing around with it and was exploring different ways of designing a masthead.

Magazine Ideas

In my magazine, there will be featured articles, of the people who are in multiple issues, and the special articles with exclusive/ special guests/celebrities. There will be news and gossip on all the latest celebrities and information on new trends, to help attract a wider range of people buying this magazine.

Magazine Audience

The target audience for my magazine is people 18-30. I chose this target audience because this was the generation that was introduced to rap and new types of music, and was a generation that most likely did used to buy magazines because online magazines and websites hadn't existed. 
My target audience is of the 'explorers'. The people who like new things, a younger generation who are more likely to be open to the idea of this type of music, as the type of music I will be covering, such as rap, is fairly new.
The gender target is both men and women, as shown by other companies the percentage of people who buy this type of magazine is 50/50 between men and women.

Magazine Name

As we are making our own magazines, we need to come up with our magazine name. As my magazine is to do with music, I decided to find synonyms for the word music. I came across the word 'melody', which means "a sequence of pleasing sounds that make up a particular phrase" - yourdictionary.com/melody/. I then made the name 'Melody Magazine' and checked online if the idea had been taken already. There used to be a company called Melody Magazine, but it had closed down and was no longer in use. 

So, my magazine name is 'Melody Magazine'.

Magazine Evaluation

Magazine Evaluation

My idea for my magazine cover was to be attractive, and to stand out against the others. For the main cover line, I used the colour of ‘success’ that is in the LSC logo, to represent the link to the college, which made it stand out more, and placed it next to the face of the girl on the cover, so it would have been one of the first few things the reader would have seen. The biggest thing I wanted to stand out the most, was the LSC logo, to make sure the reader knows which college they are reading about, and to make sure it sticks in their head. I achieved this by putting it in the top left corner, and having ‘magazine’ written next to it, in black writing with a plain white background to make it stand out more. The last big thing I wanted to stand out was the price of the magazine, the word ‘offer’ stands out most, and is more than likely to get the reader’s attention. Apart from the blue cover line, there are only 3 other cover lines across the whole cover. 2 are in black writing, and 1 is in white writing. The cover line written in white, is done because it is most likely to be the most attractive. ‘Dozing in class’, this statement represents a vast majority of the college, so by having it stand out and grab the reader’s attention like this, it makes it inevitable for the reader to be interested in the rest of the magazine.

The purpose of my contents page was to get a better idea of how LSC College looks like, so the people who go here can see about other things they may have missed out on. So, I included pictures of the lockers, grass area for big football matches and a bird’s eye view of the college. I stuck to the theme of the blue in the LSC logo, to represent their colours, and the links between the magazine cover and contents page. I had the word ‘contents’ stick out in a very unique font, that I did myself using the smudge tool. It is the only word across both pages that is written like this, so this ensures that the person knows they are reading the contents page, and by having it as the biggest piece of writing and having it at the top, ensures that this is the first thing the reader reads. The second biggest thing on the contents page is the phrase ‘lockers available’. This is because everyone who goes to LSC knows that the most asked question is ‘can we buy lockers’. So by popularity, the most sought after thing (the lockers) deserves the biggest writing as it is the highlight of the magazine. That is why, even though this is on my contents page, I left in the number of lockers in each area of the college, and the price of them. I did this because no one wants to waste time searching for the pages to find the information, they most likely want it there and then. The pictures of the college that are in the contents page, are to represent the clean, modern look of the college. So to do this, I added in a picture of the lockers, where it is spotless, and a bird’s eye view of the college, that makes it look clean and gives a whiter effect, to emphasise how modern it is.

One of my classmates left an evaluation on my blog. I agree with his opinion, and I am happy he has seen my intentions of having the LSC logo as the biggest thing on the page, and there are no mentioned improvements to do on my contents and cover page. 

Cover & Contents Page

Using Photoshop, we made our own college contents and magazine pages

Magazine Cover Photoshop

Using Photoshop, we had to make our own magazine covers for LSC, so here is what I have so far,

Billboard Contents Analysis

Lastly, I will be analysing a contents page from Billboard magazine. 

This contents page from one of Billboard's magazine, is very detailed and neatly laid out. There are 4 images across the page, with one being much bigger than the others. This shows that the bigger one must be the most important, and that he is one of the main features in this magazine. 

The whole left side of the contents page is the music charts, where everything is put in order, with a few lines in the middle of the charts, in the colours that are in the Billboard logo – red, blue and a little bit of yellow. Where it says 'No.1', just above that it has the Billboard logo again, just for a little more advertisement and to remind you about who is giving you this information.  

The word 'contents' is given in an unusual font, that is also used where it says 'No.1', showing a link. The word 'contents' is big, black and bold against a white background, for best contrast and to help catch the readers eye. Just the same with the charts on the left, except it is big, bold and white against a black background. 

The writing on the contents page is split up into different sections, and is all separated to give the impression that there isn't as much writing as you think there is. There are a lot of bold highlighted parts on the contents page that show which bits are the most important, and can allow the reader to read the bold parts, to get a better idea about the topic so they don’t have to read all the writing.

Billboard Double Page Spread Analysis

I will be analysing a double page spread from Billboard Magazine. 

The first thing when we see when we look at this is the image of Beyoncé. In this image, she takes up a whole side of the page, to assert her dominance, and to imply that this double page spread will be all about her, and her only. She has her mouth open slightly, trying to give that seductive look. She does this to lure the reader in, and to give herself that more attractive look. She is also wearing straps around her head, to make it look like she is in some sort of cage, she is dangerous. 

The header, 'FIERCELY CREATIVE' can be linked to the straps around her head. These two words go across both pages, into her side of the pages where her image is, implying that these two words refer to her. 'Fiercely' is in bold, because it is making a statement about her, she is fierce – dangerous, hence why she is in the cage like straps. Also, the header is so big, that as soon as you open the page, it is the first thing you read. This gives the double page spread a good layout – you read the header, see the picture and then if you want, you then read the text. This was how the editor/writer wanted the reader to view this. 

The main colour theme of this double page spread is purple and white. The sort of colours that attract to the more female part of the target audience. This is suitable because most of her supporters are young girls, and a lot of young girls see her as an idol, so it would be appropriate to aim this at the younger generation, by using these colours. Like with most magazines, the writing contrasts with the background, so it becomes more easy to read.  

The only black part on this double page spread is where it says 'woman of the year', which shows that they are trying to make a point, they want you to realise/know that she is woman of the year. It was done in black to catch your eye, and also contrasts very good against the purple background, and can easily be separated from the white writing. 

Billboard Cover Analysis

I will be analysing a cover page for Billboard magazine. I have chosen to do the one with Rihanna.  

Firstly, the name 'Rihanna' is the first thing we can see. It is the biggest piece of  writing on the cover, even bigger than the masthead, suggesting that it is extremely important, even more important than the name of the magazine. It stands out so much because the main colours are purple, white and red, and white stands out a lot from those two colours - it contrasts, so it easily catches your eye. 

The main image itself is of Rihanna. Her vibrant hair, covering half her face in minimal clothing is the biggest thing on the page. It even covers the name of the magazine, which can also suggest she is more important than the company itself, and that she is the main feature in this issue. We can also connotate from this, that Billboard believe their name is well enough known, that even when they cover it, people will still realise that it is Billboard. 

Since Rihanna herself is not wearing a lot of clothes, her gun tattoo is visible, and is placed right under her name. This could be a way of her trying to symbolise that she is a weapon, she is powerful. The look she gives to the camera shows her trying to be seductive, to maybe lure someone into looking at the magazine. She is wearing a dark and distinctive red lipstick, that stands out a lot from her actual skin colour, and the mouth slightly open can be linked to her lustful attitude, including the red hair as the colour red an be linked to things like lust and love. 

This cover page has a pull quote that says 'my fans don't really know who I am'. If you were a true Rihanna supporter, you would already be pulled in and attracted to the magazine, as you would want to read it and find out what she really means. The pull quote is situated right under her name, and since the name is visible enough, we can ensure that the pull quote will be seen as well. 

The cover lines on the left have its own white background, to make sure it contrasts from the purple background, and can be visibly seen. There are only 3 cover lines, which can represent that Billboard does not want too many things to get in the way of the main attraction – Rihanna. 

Lastly, where her name is, going across the page, there is something written above it that says 'THE RE-REINVENTION'. Rihanna released a perfume called 'RiRi' (just like "RE-RE") so by wording it like this, she could be subtly promoting her new perfume.